Within
the tight confines of Banner’sship,Tressa
battles a girlhoodcrush gone dangerous.As a sheltered teen, she secretly
worshipped the hotshot cargo pilot from afar.Even his carnal reputation seemed romantic. But, now, those old feelings
are unsettling.

Banner misses nothing, particularly her
coy glances.Yeah, he’s
noticed, and sexual tension smolders.Danger stalks them across the galaxy and when Tressa is captured by
pirates, Banner finds himself willing to sell his soul to free her.

EXCERPT

Without so much as turning
to address her, Nick’s satin baritone calmly broke the silence. "It’s a
damned good thing we don’t have any more days left on this run. With your
lengthy showers everyday you’ve managed to put our more-than-sufficient water
supply into the red."

"I have not been
taking lengthy showers. For your information, I’ve been very
conservative."

Refusing to rise to the
bait, Tressa began examining one particular fingernail with avid interest.
"I couldn’t care less why," she mumbled beneath her breath.

"What was that? You
say something?"

Without looking up she
replied, "The low water supply is just another classic example."

"Of what?"

"Your lack of
self-control, of course."

Silence.

You just can’t leave well enough alone, can you?

Tressa didn’t dare look at
him. He was spoiling for a fight and she had just delivered the first punch.

And if you don’t stop, you’re going to find yourself
out-gunned on a subject you’ll wish to stars you hadn’t opened.

"Ya wanna know what I
was really doin’, Irish?"

Feigning boredom, she
turned her sights to the small port window. "No thanks, Banner, you can
keep the details to yourself."

"Allow me to satisfy
your curiosity by enlightening you on several ways in which-"

"I’m not
interested."

"But I’d be happy to
educate you on some of the--"

"How much longer
before we get there, do you think?" she asked, releasing a heavy sigh.

Satisfied and grinning,
Nick turned back to the control panel. "Never challenge me, Irish--either
directly or by insinuation--and particularly on a subject you know so precious
little about." With a wink he added, "You’ll lose every time. I
guarantee it."